09d

• Board Meeting Date: 3/18/2008
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

COLORADO TOWN FEARS AVALANCHE OF WATER -More than 1 billion gallons of
contatinated water -enough to fill 1,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools - is trapped in a tunnel in the
mountains above the historic town of Leadville and threatening to blow.
Lake County Commissioners have declared a local state of emergency for fear that this winter's above-
average snowpack will melt and cause a catastrophic tidal wave.
The water is backed up in abandoned mine shafts and a 2.1-mile drainage tunnel that is partially
collapsed, creating the pooling of water contaminated with heavy metals.
County officials have been nervously monitoring the rising water pressure inside the mine shafts for about
two years. An explosion could inundate Leadville and contaminate the Arkansas River.
State and federal officials agreed to conduct a risk assessment before taking any action. Critics said
something should be done immediately to ease the pressure.
Peter Soelh, a spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation, which acquired the drainage tunnel in 1959,
said there was no immediate threat to Leadville's 2,700 residents.
Officials point out that a speaker system to broadcast evacuation notices has already been installed near a
mobile home park that has 300 residents near the tunnel's portal.
The tunnel notYnally drains water that seeps into some of the hundreds of abandoned mine shafts and
other mine workings in the mountains east and south of Leadville and deposits it into the East Fork of the
Arkansas River about a mile north of town.
The Environmental Protection Agency raised concerns about the situation in letters sent to the Bureau of
Reclamation, which has been assessing the concerns.
A water treatment plant at the foot of the tunnel removes toxins and heavy metals such as zinc, cadmium
and manganese before discharging the water into the Arkansas River. The mobile home park is near the
treatment plant.
New springs and seepages have appeared at California Gulch, which sits below the plant. Tests have
shown high levels of heavy metals typically found in mine discharge, leading officials to conclude the
trapped water is finding ways out.
ZEBRA MUSSELS FOUND IN COLORADO -Zebra mussels, an invasive species that has
inflicted more than a billion dollars in damages to other states, have been found at Lake Pueblo State Park
by researchers from the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado State Parks.
Two adult mussels and one immature specimen were found on sampling gear in the reservoir and latti~a,
known as veligers, were also found.
DOW and Parks personnel have been conducting field sampling efforts for several years to evaluate lakes
and reservoirs throughout Colorado for the presence of aquatic invasive species. Zebra mussels and other
invasive species can be environmentally and economically detrimental to the state, its wildlife and
recreation resources.
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